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Broken Wing
NCC Dungeon The blues and violets that blanket the city darken here, edging into midnight blue and indigo. The suffusing, scintillating light dims, and only scraps and snatches of illumination are available, hinting at forms rather than revealing the truth of structure. Will-o-the-wisp lights flicker in and out, suggesting sparking wires or perhaps the sinister optics of the security cameras. When activated, the translucent turquoise force fields cast more light than anything else. The long shadow-silhouettes of bars fashioned like rib cages are cast on the ground. The filigreed manacles are deceptively slender, but pound for pound, their grasp is far stronger than spider-silk, nigh unbreakable. From the ceiling hang the various tools of torture, perhaps the teeth of an iron maiden here and the cage of a gibbet there. Air Raid is, at the moment, slowly gaining consciousness, in a pool of energon. He wakes to find himself surrounded by forcefields, and his artillery stripped from his wings. As it hurts to move, he remains stationary (photon beams to the innards have that effect) and simply glowers at the wall. Great, captured, by a BUG no less. "I always knew you were a wimp, but really. Beaten by an Insecticon?" Darkwing asks as he shamefully shakes his head. "You've no right to even call yourself a jet. Not that you had any reason before, but even as a Faux-Seeker you suck. Even a Cassette could beat Barrage..." Air Raid turns his helm just a bit, settling a fierce glare upon none other than Darkwing. "Shut yer' stupid face," he growls, attempting to sit up. "Ain't a Primus-damned /faux-seeker/. D-don't you have some razor blades to fawn over? G'hh..." "Well you sure ain't no real Seeker. Not even a real jet." Darkwing says as he gets closer. "Insecticons are about as low on the energon-chain as you can get. Course your one to talk, You've never even beaten me in combat. Couldn't even save your girlfriend from being beaten up by me and Windy. Not much of a mech OR a Jet. Just some pathetic loser." The Powermaster says with a dark chuckle. "Th-that's 'cause you always turn tail and retreat, like the wimpy slag-eater you are!" Raid retorts, palms slipping on his own energon as he sits up. "Aww can it, you're just jealous. Everyone wants to b-be an Aerialbot," he forces a smirk, daring Darkwing to prod him further. "I'll get out of here, and when I do, you'll be the first mech I'll rip th' lasercore out of." Ahh, the Dungeon. A place where those such as Scourge could come and 'play' with their captives, if they so chose. And it just so happened that there was such a captive tonight. Scourge had viewed the Insecticon's report on the encounter, and had gotten a good chuckle out of it. Air Raid, beaten down by an Insecticon....A good indication of the Autobot's /true/ function in this Universe. And so Scourge had decided to pay their 'guest' a little visit. Stepping through the arena and into the dungeon, the lights in the area flicker and dim slightly. Most likely just a surge in the power conduits, but the timing was impeccable. As Scourge makes his way towards the cell the Autobot was being kept in, he listens to the conversation and smirks. Darkwing would have made a decent Sweep, if he wasn't bonded with that..../thing/. Scourge had no love for anything that was so frail, but he had to admit that they were less fragile than a typical human. Stopping behind Darkwing, his optics sweep across the fallen Autobot 'warrior' with a sneer, and he speaks. "Ahh, Air Raid. I had thought that even /you/ could have stopped a lone Insecticon. Truly a pathetic display of 'prowess'. But then, Barrage has the advantage of plenty of practice destroying things. Something the Insecticons seem to enjoy almost more than scrapping you Autobots." Astrotrain randomly asks, "So can we beat prisoners with fish?" Redshift says, "Only if you tune them first." Scourge says, "Why use /fish/? It's so much more effective to use fists, or something that will cause them pain." Astrotrain says, "Yeah but fish are smelly and gross and get that whole messy stuff over them. It's humiliating to em. Try it!" Scourge says, "I do not have difficulty humiliating Autobots, Astrotrain." Galvatron says, "I need the prisoners to be in relatively good condition when I exchange them. This... "collector" seems to fuss over damage to his prizes." Astrotrain says, "Does that include fish-related messiness?" Galvatron says, "Hm. You'll have to clean them up afterwards." Astrotrain says, "...do I have to touch em? Can I use a hose?" Astrotrain says, "I'm only askin cause I got this really big fish right now and I'd hate to let it go to waste." Galvatron says, "Fine, I don't care!" Astrotrain says, "Woohoo! Thanks boss." Scourge says, "Perhaps, then, someone from the medtech department should look in on Air Raid. He seems to be in somewhat /less/ than pristine condition. Barrage seems to have worked him over well." Astrotrain says, "He'll feel better after I hit him with this fish." Galvatron says, "...that hasn't been done already?" Astrotrain says, "Or maybe I'll feel better..." Darkwing wasn't much fond of Throttle himself, but he would admit that the germ had his uses. He did come in handing when in prolonged combat, giving him more power to fight back when everyone else is drained and hurting. "Heh, I guess your mouth is loud enough to be a real seeker, just too bad you can't back any of that physically. But really, You must not know who your talking to... I've never ran from a fight..." He says, his fight with Seaspray's been blocked out of his processors and will deny ever fighting that blue runt. He looks to Scourge as he joins him. "Ah, so nice to have you here." He says sounding almost sincere. "I've fought Air Raid several times, I know for a fact that this Faux-Seeker couldn't even beat Frenzy. Scourge says, "No, Lord Galvatron, it appears that nobody has seen to him yet." Astrotrain says, "Heh heh heh, I could try and fix him for ya..." Galvatron says, "No, Astrotrain, you will not! Someone drag a qualified medic to his cell to patch him up!" Scourge says, "I will see that it gets done." Astrotrain says, "Hope they're quick about it. This fish is starting to smell funny." Galvatron says, "Good, good." Air Raid slaps his hands on the ground, "It was a FLUKE! That Insectiglitch was LUCKY! I was holdin' back, didn't wanna' end the fun too soon - !" As if Scourge would somehow change his mind. "Whatever. Shut up... You ain't gettin' nothin' outta' me. Where's my damn missiles!" He shakily gets to his feet and leans against the back wall, clenching fists. At Darkwing, he flinches. "Don't CALL me that! I've kicked your sorry aft across the skies plenty a' times!" ...He tries to recall one. Scourge nods to Darkwing as way of greeting, and continues sneering at Air Raid. "You think we want /information/ from you? How truly stupid you Autobots are. If information was what we were after, you would be in an extraordinary amount of pain." Astrotrain says, "We don't have to giftwrap these Autobots, right?" Redshift says, "Seal him in a plastic bubble to prevent damage while in transit! and stick the bubble to a big square for ease of transport." Scrapper peeks into the dungeon, a toolbox under one of his arms and a mug of energon in the other. He starts to say, "Someone wanted a medic?" Then, he corrects, "Someone mentioned an extraordinary amount of pain?" Medics and large amounts of pain are interchangeable, in Galvatron's camp. Scrapper talks a long swig of his drink thoughtfully, looking Air Raid over. Astrotrain says, "Oooh may wanna use that styrofoam popcorn packaging too." Scrapper says, "Oh, oh, oh! I could make a huge piece of cardboard and seal him inside a plastic bubble with some twist ties!" Redshift says, "Blueshift ate it all." Astrotrain says, "He ate it a...that explains a whole bunch of things all of a sudden." Galvatron says, "Ate what? The cardboard or the twist ties?" Darkwing chuckles softly. "Your all bluff. No wonder you faux-Seekers are rivals to the Stunticons. Neither of you can prove your worth despite how big you all talk." The Powermaster says and shakes his head. "Its not like he'd know anything, anyway Scourge. He doesn't even know how pathetic he is. Do you really expect Rodimus to trust someone like that with any plans?" Darkwing asks and then almost smiles seeing Scrapper; one of the few Constructicons he had any respect for. "Yeah, This faux-Seeker needs to be fixed." Scrapper says, "And then we can put technical specifications for Air Raid on the back, but you'll need special decoder glasses to read them. We can charge extra for the glasses!" Astrotrain says, "That's silly. Who'd buy an Autobot?" Scrapper says, "Probably those people who buy images of Primus in a waffle." Astrotrain says, "Wait, people buy that kinda stuff?" No longer the Sweep Commander! Thrust says, "That waffle is AMAZING." No longer the Sweep Commander! Thrust says, "It's framed on my wall as we speak." Scrapper says, "...yes. Scavenger, put DOWN the Black eBay!" Well if it's not information... Raid looks a fair bit confused. All he can do is lean heavily against the wall and bleed, no witty remarks coming to mind. He peers at Scrapper beyond the forcefield, then back to Darkwing. "You leave Rodimus outta' this..." Again, he flinches at the name. Anger swelling, he rushes the forcefield and slams his fists against it, glaring daggers at the Powermaster. "SHUT UP!" Turning when Scrapper sticks his head in, Scourge nods and smirks, turning back to regard Air Raid once more. "Indeed, Scrapper. Air Raid here, pathetic as he may be, needs to be repaired. However, it was not specified that he needed to be repaired /quickly/, or without pain." Listening to Darkwing, he almost smiles when he nods. "Yes, Darkwing, but it would still be rather gratifying to cause him an extreme amount of pain. And the Autobots are typically stupid enough to give their 'lower echelon' warriors information." No longer the Sweep Commander! Thrust says, "That was worth all the credits I gave to Swindle." Astrotrain says, "...scuse me, I think I need to load up on waffles and uh, totally unrelated question. Anyone got a stencil of Primus' face?" Scrapper says, "I could make you a stencil for ten cubes of energon." Scrapper says, "I'm sure Air Raid has plenty of stencil-shaped internal components he doesn't need..." Astrotrain says, "Yeah, see the joke's on you cause I'm cheap!" Scourge says, "Give me some time, I'll bring you his /actual/ face to stencil yourself." No longer the Sweep Commander! Thrust says, "That's what said!" Scrapper says, "What what said?" Astrotrain says, "A stencil of Air Raid's face, eh? Ooh can you get him doing some hilarious expression while he's at it?" Scourge says, "I believe Thrust would like me to teach /him/ a lesson, as well?" "True, True. But I'm sure Scrapper can give the Faux-Seeker," Darkwing says, loving the look in the puny jet's optics each time he says that, "more pain, then any interrogation could. Scrapper is truly an artist when it comes to his craft." He says with a sadistic smile and turns to the Aerialbot. "Oh its not like your flaming leader could help you now anyway. Not with all the shiny baubles in the universe." Scourge turns and sneers once more at Air Raid before turning to leave the dungeon. "I have other things to attend to, Darkwing, Scrapper. Ensure that he suffers, but also ensure he is fully repaired at the end. You have 4 days to have your fun, I believe." A Sweep leaving orders that an Autobot is to be fully repaired?! What is this world coming to?! ;) Scrapper snorts and waves a hand dismissively, noting, "I can repair him /and/ ensure he suffers. They are mutually exclusive." He takes a few steps in closer to really survey Air Raid's injuries, and he murmurs, "Such a shame. I'd make you a monument to yourself, you know, if I had my way. What do you symbolize, do you think? Wasted youth? Copy-cat creations, cranked out without a thought to how they'd be used up and discarded someday?" Darkwing says, "What about 'Wasted Copy-Cat creations, that couldn't even beat up Hinder?" Darkwing asks with a laugh; picking the most harmless of the cassettes." "..." Raid's optics flick in a blink. "Monument?" Naturally, he doesn't get it, and just stands there and gazes back defiantly. "You comin' anywhere near me," he sneers at the Constructicon. "I said shut yer' face Dorkwing! Someone better tell me where my missiles are!!" Scrapper likes to build monuments to and /of/ his enemies. He looks to Darkwind, and he replies, "Soundwave does good work with his cassettes." Eccentric work, sometimes. "Get ready and be on guard. I need to enter his cell." He touches the control panel for the cell. Darkwing nods "Of course." Darkwing grins and pulls out what some Autobots have dubbed as his 'Primus-Damned Blasters' Super accurate and messes up their systems; leading to many fun, well for Darkwing, encounters. "I rather hope he does try something. Will remind him of who the REAL jet is." Darkwing chuckles. Air Raid backs away and leers like a cornered animal, fists raised, though it's pretty clear nothing is backing them. He can barely keep upright. "Back off aft-hat, if ya' know what's good for ya'. Ain't in any mood to tango..." His optics dart back to glare at Darkwing. Oooh what he'd give to punch that damn jet's dental manifolds in. Scrapper nods curtly. "Excellent, Darkwind." His fingers key in the code to open the cell, and he enters into the cell with the rather battered Air Raid. He pulls out a pair of energy handcuffs and tries to wrestle Air Raid's arms behind his back, to cuff him. Scrapper rasps, "I know what is good for /you/. And also what isn't." Darkwing seems to just shrug off the mistake in his name, both he and Dreadwind were used to it by now. "Surely you've always been told to follow the doctor's orders? Course with most of our Doctors, following their orders might hurt more then not following them..." Air Raid struggles rather feebly, due to the energon still streaming from his wounds. He's cuffed without much effort, yet tries to thrash out of reach, slumping into a corner. Scrapper is indeed a 'medic' to fear. Raid has heard stories. "He ain't a doctor, he's a psycho," Raid spits, eventually sinking to the ground. Darkwing says, "There's a difference?" Astrotrain descends into the dungeon area, an odd *thump thump thump* preceding him, until the reason becomes apparent upon the big triplechanger's entry. Behind him, a very large and long since dead shark is being dragged along, its head bouncing against stairs or anything else that Astrotrain happens to bump it against as he pulls it along by the tail. This can't be good. Scrapper helped invent the combiner process. He pokes at one of Air Raid's wounds, not sparing Air Raid any hurt as he does his search, looking for the combiner connector that Air Raid uses when he forms one of Superion's limbs. Scrapper seems to find what he's looking for. He pulls out a few tools, and the Constructicon cuts a few wires and inserts a few odd components. When he's done, he explains, "This is going to kill you. Slowly. It sends random, phantom signals over your combiner link, at a frequency your lasercore cannot process - you may hallucinate as a result, particularly combination-related hallucinations - eventually, the white noise overload will overheat your lasercore, and you will die. You can halt this, at any time, by offlining your combiner components. By rejecting your team. By saying that your life is worth more than the sum of their parts. Or you can wait and see if any of us," he looks around at the others, "find this thing called 'mercy'." Astrotrain comes to a halt just outside of the cell, watching as Scrapper goes about doing his work on Air Raid. Patiently (or is that impatiently?) the triplechanger shifts his weight, lifting the dead shark up and slinging it over one shoulder, a solid *THUMP* issuing out as its lifeless head thumps against his back as he waits. An odd, faint aroma comes from the dead fish, hinting that it may have been inert and out of the water long enough for it to be a tad past its prime. "I'm next!" he announces. Darkwing's red optics brighten under his purple visor... "I think I have a whole new level of respect for you Scrapper..." The Powermaster say, clearly in awe of such an cruel act of suffering... A level of pain and misery Darkwing could only dream of inflicting on others.... Artifice has heard something about a prisoner. Eager to see who it is and whether or not there's a good torturing going one, he's grabbed Windshear and found his way to the dungeon. There are other duties he should be performing right now, but he doesn't want to miss a chance to get a shot in on a captive Autobot. he arrives to see what seems like a bit of a line developing. "Hey," he says, "What's going on? Who did we get?" He hopes to hear the name of an Autobot. Windshear follows Arty quietly. He's just come out of yet another repair session and seems eager to get back into the action. He too is curious to see just who was caught and maybe get in a few shots at them as well. "Who cares who we got," he rasps as he walks in. "As long as they suffer well that's all that matters." Darkwing looks over to the pair entering. "One of the Faux-Seekers. This one couldn't even beat a lousy Insecticon! Now Scrapper's just done the most... beautiful..." Darkwing says, still sounding in awe of it, "act of torture to him I've ever seen..." Air Raid has no choice but to stay still. He stares dejectedly at the ground as Scrapper 'repairs' him, wincing hard here and there. At Scrapper's explanation, Raid's optics widen, and he gapes. "Wh-what? What did you do...!" At Astrotrain's voice, he looks up, and sees that quite a crowd has formed. Well ain't that peachy. "What're you lookin' at!" he shouts, "BEAT IT!" All he wants now is for terrifying Scrapper to get the hell out of his cell. Already, something was off. "Frag you!" he snaps at Darkwing. Scrapper shrugs, and there's the impression he'd be blushing, if he could. He waves a hand in the air, and he mutters, "It's nothing, really. Just what came to mind. Glad you like it, Darkwing." Scrapper says briskly to Air Raid, "I just explained what I did. But you won't leak out and starve to death or suffer a fatal short, at least. I'll work on getting you prettied up later." He leaves the cell and taps the forcefield back up. Artifice laughs as he sees that it's Air Raid in the cell. "You finally bit off more than could process, huh Aerialbot? Ha!" He elbows Windshear. "I'm surprised it took so long. Hey, Atrain...I don't know what your planning on doing with that fish, but I hope it doesn't take too long. I have a score to settle with Air Raid." Windshear takes the elbow from Arty and grins, then walks up to the forcefield, folds his arms and looks at Air Raid for a moment. With a low rumble he speaks, "Of all the Aerialbots and look who got caught?" he smirks dangerously and leans forward just a bit, "Remember the last time we talked? You must -- what could it do for you now I wonder..." Darkwing chuckles to Air Raid. "Oh like you could ever frag anything; even with your puny missiles." He says and looks over to Scrapper. "If that's nothing, then one day I really MUST see when you actually put effort into something..." Astrotrain is of course completely unmoved by Air Raid's shout as Scrapper finishes up and steps back. Though when he moves to raise the forcefield again, the triplechanger raises one hand to stop him. "Oi! Hold up a sec." With that, he proceeds to step into the cell, filling the entrance with his wide-winged posture, before he shifts the fish around, letting it drop down between his legs as he frees up his hands. "A'right autoscrap, this won't take a sec." he states eagerly, rubbing his hands together, then 'spitting' into them and wiping them together again. Given that he isn't capable of spitting, one probably think too hard on the significance of the gesture. "Okey dokey then!" And with that, he picks up the dead shark once more, tightening his grip around the tail like one would hold a Louisville slugger. And with that, with EVERY ounce of strength in the triplechanger's body, and that's quite a bit given his size and reputation, he proceeds to swing the shark like a batter, the dead fish meeting Air Raid's form with a hearty *THWACK* noise... ...and then, horror of horrors, with a very wet sounding *BLORTCH!* it explodes on contact. A colourful, glittering display of fishy insides spraying across the entire interior of the cell, not to mention its occupant. Even Astrotrain himself gets sprayed a bit, though he doesn't appear concerned as he was expecting it. Windshear was waiting for the Autobot to answer him and is suddenly railroaded to the side by Atrain and then before he can step back, the Seeker is splattered with flying shark offal....eewww. Air Raid remains backed in that corner, suddenly dealing with foreign signals that seem to make everything hazy. Artifice only draws a scowl. His optics swim up to meet Windshear's, and it takes him a moment to figure out what the Seeker was referring to. Oh. /That/. Before Raid can respond, in comes Astrotrain with his... shark. "What the frag-" *SPLUCK!* The Aerialbot gets thwacked and spattered with fishy remains. He smacks against the wall, yelps, and slumps, dazed. A shark tooth drifts down a helm guard. Astrotrain says, "Okay, we're all good now. I branded this Autobot properly. May wanna hose him off, he smells like dead fish." Astrotrain says, "Y'all lemme know when we get another one." Windshear mutters, "I think I smell like a dead fish now too.... Darkwing says, "I think we should let him live with it for while. We got a few days before that Collector returns. No rush to hose him down..." Scrapper does pause to let Astrotrain do disgusting things to the prisoner. He sighs. "Maybe I can have Scavenger clean that up. Hmm. I need to go find some cardboard, anyway, and I fear Harrow may have used up our cardboard supply." Shaking his head, the bad doctor exits the dungeon, his work done for now. Artifice says, "I agree with that." Astrotrain says, "Good point!" Artifice says, "Let him sit in his own fishy stink. Psychological torture as well as physical." Windshear asks, "Whats a 'Collector'? Ive been in some obscure repair bay on Cybertron the past few days, been out of the loop. Darkwing says, "Some odd alien. Wants to trade us an Guardian Robot for 3 or 4 diffrent Autobots. They've got to be in mint condtion; so we gonna patch them up after beatenign them up." Windshear says, "He smells like fish, not mint though... will that still count? Wait... how did an alien get a guardian robot?" Astrotrain had half turned after the impact, so it was one wing that got splattered a bit, and some of his forearm as he shielded his face. When it's all done, he lifts his gaze to look over his handiwork, and nods in satisfaction. Tossing the severed remnants of the dead shark's tail onto the floor next to the Aerialbot, the triplechanger turns and walks back out of the cell again, allowing the forcefield to be raised once more unless someone else goes in for some reason. It isn't long before Astrotrain has pulled a hose out of the wall and is proceeding to wash himself down to remove any of the stuff that clung to himself. "Don't worry Autobot, you'll get nice and cleaned off!" A pause, and then he smirks, running the hose over his own forearm. "After we let that nice coating pickle for a couple days. Hope yer olfactory sensors ain't too sensitive!" Rampage says, "Wait, why does he smell like fish?" Astrotrain says, "Duh, cause I just hit him with a fish." Rampage says, "Oh, ok." Astrotrain says, "Sheesh, some people." Windshear steps toward Atrain, "Hey..." he points to the fish bits that flew out on him and looks at the hose. "Pass that to me when you are done." Darkwing says, "We're not sure how he got it; but when he offers it to Galvatron for a couple of Autobots? Who's he to argue?" Windshear says, "So ok, we all agree 'Raid smells like fish... so has anyone figured out -- or does anyone care, about the fact that some alien has a Guardian Robot?" Artifice recoils as Astrotrain thwacks Air Raid with an exploding shark! He puts up his hands to shield his face from any icthyoid innards that might be hurtling in his direction. "Jeez, Astro," he says, disgusted, "are we try to torture him or just gross him out?" Luckily, he wasn't hit by much fish gack. Still, he plans on yoinking the hose from Windy as soon as he can and playing up the fact that he was hit at all. "Speaking of which, are we going to torture him anymore? Can I get this forcefield down or what?" Rampage says, "Not really." Rampage says, "Tell me about how you slapped him around with the fish again!" Frenzy says, "So we have to keep the stupid Autodopes in mint condition? Hmph, that sounds so boring and not so fun to me.. And why does this alien idiot want Autobots anyways?" Windshear realizes his comment crosseed with Darkwings, "Ok...mmmm so why does this alien want 3-4 Autobots then? Rampage says, "Let's give him three and a half Autobots." Air Raid hasn't the strength to spit and curse as he normally would. Well, spit and curse /loudly/. "Darkwing, don't take this personally, but Astrotrain's gonna' take y-your place as the first mech I kill when I get out of here. You can be the second. D-don't feel too bad." His helm lists against the wall. Darkwing says, "What does it really matter? Its 3-4 less Autobots we've got to deal with. He wants the headache? Fine with me." Frenzy says, "I smell something /fishy/... Hey! I made a whatcha-you-call-it!" Windshear says, "But what if this alien rebuilds these Autobots as weapons against us? Whats to say this Guardian Robot isnt somehow rigged?" Rampage says, "Hurr hurr, good one, Frenzy!" Astrotrain tilts the hose up and lets it rush down his entire form with a cascade of cleansing saltwater! That's the great thing when you're under the ocean. No shortage of water. Dripping profusely now, he turns the hose off and idly tosses it in the direction of Windshear and Artifice, not really caring who catches it first, nor who asked for it first. "Pshhh, yeah right. Totally out of -your- league, little mech." He guffaws loudly, making a drawing gesture of his thumb across his neck. "Besides, only place yer goin out of here is straight into some alien's collection. Maybe he'll pull ya apart to see what makes ya tick or somethin. What do I care?" Darkwing chuckles softly. "I'm rather surprise its not Scrapper you want to kill first. I'm not really sure why getting beat by a dead fish is the worst offense against you? It's not like you could have done better against a live Shark." Darkwing says and rotates his neck some. "I've yet to see anything be IN his league, Atrain." Windshear catches the hose, turns it on and then pauses. He stares at the water gushing out of the hose for a moment then looks at Artifice. "Arty..." he says a bit oddly, "You see any hull breeches at all on my armor that might have been missed from my recent repairs?" He wants this fish stuff off of him but the thought of water hitting him internally makes him hesitate. Something rather unusual for this Seeker. Darkwing says, "Well, If your really that concerned with such. I'm sure Galvatron will be more then happy to hear you out. Then someone like Dreadwind will be happy to clean your remains after questioning Galvatron's descions." Artifice decides to let Windy hose down after all. He wants a shot at Raid before someone tells him to get back to work. He steps into the cell, deactivating the forcefield if need be, and approached Air Raid with his fists bunched and a grin on his faceplate. "Too bad I have to be careful not to damage you too badly," he rasps as he kneels to get in close to Air Raid, "You and I have had some tussles. Last time you left me a broken heap. Remember? Fair's fair...you have some pain coming. But I have to make sure not to break the aliens' toy before they come to get you. So, I'll settle for this." He stands to deliver a few solid kicks to Raid's lower abdomen. He follows this up with a backfist across the Aerialbot's face. Then he leans in again to inspect the damage. "Hmm. Some scuffs. Not too bad. But don't think that's all you'll get from me, Aerialbot. The real payback time's comin." Windshear says, "No, Dread would be mad because I got ended and he never can. That would add insult to injury if he had to clean my carcass. Seriously, I think I am bringing up legitimate issues here. And yea... I will ask Lord Galvatron about it but with all the respect his position and power demand, you can be sure of that." Darkwing laughs "Gotta learn to dectect Sarcasm, Windy. Though you really expect being respectful will spare you his wraith for questioning him? Surely you know our grand and infalible leader better then that." Windshear forces some air out of his intakes as Arty just totally ignores him and goes kicking the Aerialbot around a bit. He watches the scene and studies Air Raid for a moment then double checks his systems to make sure all vents are closed and gingerly turns the hose on himself. Nothing happens but fish offal flowing off of him and soon he's dripping yet clean and no more shark smell. Then with a sinister smirk he turns the hose on Arty and putting a finger over the water stream hoses the other Seeker square in the back with it. Collection? Raid's gaze shifts back to Astrotrain, waiting to see if he'd mention anything else. Probably wouldn't remember, the idiot. Another snide comment from Darkwing. It's getting to him now. Artifice is standing right in front of him before Raid notices. "HuuGHH!" He doubles over as he's struck, fairly hard for some like ARTIFICE. Listing onto his side, he moans, energon seeping from his lips. Whatever Scrapper had affixed to Raid's innerworkings seems to make him mentally break. "Go away..." Windshear chuckles slightly, "Its all in the approach, Dark. If I screw up, well, its my aft that will be shot for it...no biggie. "Oh, hear that guys? The Faux-Seeker wants us to go away..." Darkwing laughs, "Where's all the bravado and bluster of yours? How your gonna kill us all single-handedly? Surely your not backing down from a fight now? I mean you've only be beaten by an Insecticon, A Dead Fish, and a real Seeker. Or have you just finally realized, your just some pathetic slag that not even the other Autobots care about enough to look for you?" Artifice backs out of the cell and activates the forcefield again. "This little incident should serve to teach him to respect more powerful mechs." Yeah...like Arti could hold a candle to Air Raid! Well...maybe with him being hunched and cuffed in a dungeon. "I wish I could stick around, but if I don't get on duty I'll get cannoned. See ya around, Raidy." He blows a kiss and and gives Raid a nice mono-digital salute as he heads out. "Have at him, Windy." Artifice backs out of the cell and activates the forcefield again. He sputters and flaps his arms in an extremely macho manner, following this up with a very macho shriek of surprise, as Windy hoses him down. "Jeez! Not in front of the prisoner!" He turns to look into the cell, dripping wet now. "This little incident should serve to teach him to respect more powerful mechs." Yeah...like Arti could hold a candle to Air Raid! Well...maybe with him being hunched and cuffed in a dungeon. "I wish I could stick around, but if I don't get on duty I'll get cannoned. See ya around, Raidy." He blows a kiss and and gives Raid a nice mono-digital salute as he heads out. "Have at him, Windy." Windshear laughs at Arty, "What an impressive shriek there, Arty," he rasps and shuts the water off on the hose. Then tossing it to the floor he laughs some more thinking back on the shriek. But then he looks at Air Raid and his humor dies. "Where are the Autobots anyway, Raid? Your /faction/ -- your 'side'? So you say that is..." Air Raid vents heavily, stewing in shark remains. Darkwing is... right. No one is going to come look for him. He /is/ pathetic slag, unable to stand up to just a few 'cons. He can only lie on his side, silent for a moment, helpless. "Just go AWAY!" he yells, voice wavering. "Ain't a Seeker... ain't a d-damn Seeker..." This he says to Windshear. Windshear frowns slightly and squats down more toward Raids level. "There is a way to fix that you know and you know what it is..." he says quietly. Darkwing walks closer, one of his blasters still in hand. "Yes, we know your not a Seeker. If you were, you'd be better then this. MUCH better. That's why your a Faux-Seeker, a inferior knock off. You were created to try an rival the Seeker's superiority over the Autobots. I though Optimus would have been smarter then that. The Seekers are the penical of air combat. You should wallow in the fact that your not a seeker, that you'll never be good enough to fly with the real jets; always stuck behind a coward that's to afraid to even fly. That is why you continue to loose against us." Air Raid looks away, despairing, but certainly still capable of getting enraged about it. His optics burn as he glowers up at Darkwind and Windshear. "Shut up! SHUT UP! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!" He howls, doubt flooding his senses. Scrapper's evil device really isn't helping. Gathering some energon, he aims to hawk it at Windshear's prettyboi face. Combat: Air Raid strikes Windshear with his Energon Spit! (Grab) attack! Windshear shifts his gaze toward Darkwing and listens to what he says. Then he looks back at Raid as he addresses Darkwing, "In all fairness, Dark, I have fought this Aerialbot on more then one occasion...the attitude, the skill... is there..." he knows where this is going but hes not going to say anymore. At least not right now. Oh and then he gets loogied with a glob of energon right in his face. Not the face, not the face... bah. Windshear wipes it off and flings it to the floor and looks at Air Raid. "What the slag is wrong with you?" Their is a hum as Darkwing's Electro-Kinetic Blaster powers up, he points the gun of course to Air Raid. "I'm very tempted to use this, even without being provoked. Just means you'd have to have another nice visit with Dr. Scrapper. You seem to enjoy his work on you so far." He says with a dark chuckle and looks to Windshear. "Attitude, I'll give you. But skill? I've never seen this one win any combat. What kind of skilled warrior loses to an Insecticon? I'm sure he could be better then he is. But he's being held back, by himself, by his superiors... Why else would they put Silverbolt in charge rather then him? He could be SO much better. He knows it. That's why he wants us to shut up and leave him alone, We remind him of how much a failure he really is. He's just starting to come to grips with it, and like so many in this universe. They just can;t handle the truth." "Maybe not so much a failure," Windshear says, "But the frustration of being regulated to the wrong side..." It's a shame Raid's audio systems are disabled, else he would've had a nice recording of Windshear complimenting him. Not that Raid would've cared. He's far gone now, broken, and just praying to Primus for these fraggin' prodding monkeys to /leave/. Darkwing speaks, and drives Raid further into his pit of depression. It's a damn good thing Dreadwind isn't around. The Aerialbot falls quiet now, vacant. Wrong side... Windshear stares at Raid for a moment then looks at Darkwing, "Just what did Scrapper do to him? And how did he get caught exactly? Whats this about an Insecticon?" Darkwing says, "Wrong side? Maybe. It probably would allow him the freedom and fire power he wishes he could have. No more having to hold back against your enemies. No more having to follow those unfit to lead. He could be part of a real Aerial unit and able to use the sky to his advantage. But he'd never be able to abandon his Autobot morals just for a chance at greatness. That is why he is, and always will be a failure." Darkwing Responds to Wind's earlier comments." Air Raid cannot stop himself from trembling. Again, he says nothing. Perhaps they'll get bored soon, if Raid's any sort of lucky. Doesn't seem very lucky now. He just mulls over Darkwing's words and attempts to stave off the biting hallucination. Windshear considers Dark's words for a moment then shakes his head, "Morals? I don't think hes as pious as you would expect because he wears that brand." Darkwing says, "From what I've learned is that Barrage was in Mexico, when he spotted Air Raid on some kind of scouting mission or something. He warned Air Raid to leave, Air Raid didn't. After all, its just an Insecticon. Even you could beat one with your arms tied behind your back. Air Raid lost, badly. Hearing about Galvatron's need for Autobot captives; he and Bonecrusher brought him here." Darkwing explains to the best of his ability of what he knows from Barrage. "Galvatron learned of Air Raid and his condition, since the Autobots have to be pristine he ordered Air Raid to be fixed. Scourge Ordered Scrapper to do so, and to make it painful. Scrapper, did both, Repairing much of his internal injuries, while adding a new one. One subtle and unnoticeable to others. His combiner joint sends pain and white noise through his laser core. Slowly worsening his condition. A very slow death. Probably be years before he actually dies. But he's got three choices. He can either permanently shut down the joint to save himself. Hope one of us has Mercy on him, or he can just die." Darkwing chuckles, still in a bit of awe at the masterwork of the Constructicon. "Too bad he chose the wrong side, or he wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. And he's pious enough to value the Autobots Ideals more then ours. Ideals are the only thing separating the sides. But we both know the Autobots have several warriors much worse then any Decepticons fighting for them. Like Sunstreaker or Grimlock." Windshear listens to Dark catch him up on everything and his optics widen when he hears just what Scrapper did to him. This angers him, "Ok look. I can appreciate a good torture just like the next Decepticon but for one thing; that device contradicts the condition this alien wanted his autobots in. It has to be removed for that reason alone. And secondly, Air Raid is a formidable opponent and as such does not deserve this type of treatment. And lastly, he did not chose his side, it was chosen for him..." he looks at Air Raid. "This is wrong." he says and he frankly doesn't care how un con his statements just made him look. He believes in honor and both sides can have it. Darkwing says, "Device? No device, other then the Autobot's own body being used against him. That is the brilliance of such. As far as the alien is concerned; its just a faulty part. We've been at war for years. Its not like any of us have come out unscathed. How long has your voice box been on the Fritz?" He says, looking to one of the people that could almost be considered a friend. "Or what about your fear of water? Another little bit of you 'broken' even if mentally. That's one less part of you intact then when this war began. As for the Alien? Who cares. He's gonna double cross us anyway. You know that as well as I do there there is no way someone would give up a Guardian Robot for a few worthless Autobots. Its honor like that, that gets you landed in the Med bay or the scrap heap." The Powermaster says with a shrug. "As for deserving this type of Treatment? You seem fine with destroying his mind, with covering him in dead fish. We've long past what counts for honor and fair play. Though Maybe you wish to join him? Join this creepy's Alien's grand collection. Maybe even posed off against him in nightly recreations of your battles? I'm sure that the alien will show you respect as he keeps you nice and pristine because he doesn't want his collection sullied." Air Raid can't appreciate what Windshear's saying, as he can't quite make out the words. Everything is muffled. His lasercore aches terribly, and from the stress of it all, he finally just passes out, optics flickering off. Windshear notices Raid leave the land of the conscious and looks up at Darkwing as he speaks. Slowly he stands back up. "I have been gone for millenia, Darkwing but the Decepticon Empire I knew originally had honor. It is gone for the most part now, that much seems obvious. Don't you get it? That mech isn't sure about being an Autobot. Don't you see the moral devastation we could inflict on the Autobots if he joined the side that I personally feel he should have been on to begin with? And a member of one of their copycat gestalts at that? Is it such a dishonorable thing to give the opportunity to a mech to go to the side he should have been on to begin with?" He pauses and glances around, seeing the water hose. "Yes, my fear of water - mental you say? Maybe but its from a physical cause -- and that very mech--" he motions toward Air Raid, "was the one who started the injury to my voice synth and Grimlock finished it. Harrow did what she could but that's besides the point, Dark. I see a mech that seems to want to know what the other side is like. I cant stand here and do nothing about it. As for this alien and his motives and collection? Perhaps some of us should disguise ourselves as 'autobots' and see just what this alien is up to. It smells like rust to me any way you sniff it -- something is up with this 'deal'." Darkwing says, "We both know the ways of the old Empire are dead. You don't need to remind me. You want to fix him? So be it, but I doubt your medical training will be enough." Darkwing says with a shrug and puts his blaster away with Air Raid unconscious. "And you know me well enough, that I don't care about anything more then making everything in this Universe suffer. What Scrapper did, was art to my optics. A unique form of suffering, his body used against him. Slowly eating away at him. He's starting to realize the futility of it all! I thought you understood that. In the end, there will be no point to this. He'll escape; they'll repair him. And he'll continue on as if nothing ever happens. He won;t care if you help him. And if you do, the other Autobots will still imprison you regardless. If we turn him, it won't last either. The Autobots will find some way to restore the status quo. That will never change permanently. Do what you want with him, Hell disguise yourself as an autobot and rot in this cell with him, since your so eager to befriend him and share his fate. Its all for naught whether we know the Alien's true motivations or not. This will all blow up in our faces, Galvatron will be pissed; and the universe continues on as it always does." "Oh no I understand, Dark I understand. I also see that what Scrapper did was truly ingenious. It was art I will admit that." Windshear says. "And sure in the end, he will escape and be repaired but I don't think he will go on like nothing ever happened. Call it battlefield familiarity that I have with this Autobot but something tells me, he wont go on like it never happened. You bring up valid points but I wont sit here and address them each individually. Suffice it to say that I am not so much eager to befriend him as to allow him the chance to see if this side is better. I have already stated the ramifications of it if he did switch sides -- I wont go into it again." Windshear pauses a beat and continues. "And yes we all know this will not end will, this deal with the alien. Wouldn't it be nice for a change to upset this unspoken balance and stop the pattern this once?" Darkwing's optics dim for a moment. "Disrupting the flow and balance of the universal patters, has as much chance of success as you deflecting a Galvcannon shot with your face." He says as his optics brighten again and places a hand on the Seeker's shoulder. "You do what you must. I won't stop you. Repair him if you want; Scrapper did say that maybe a Decepticon would show him mercy. Doubt he though anyone would take up that option, but I suppose you can defend yourself by stating he wouldn't be 'mint' for the collector. I won't stop you, but I won't support you either. Your just lucky bro isn't here. He's really give you an audio receptor full about how pointless your idea is." Darkwing says with a soft chuckle. Windshear cant help but smirk at the comment about deflecting the galvcannon shot with his face and finally he nods, "I know I am railing against the universe and its ways and I can just imagine what Dread would say if he were here." he glances back at Air Raid. "Perhaps that is his role -- being torn between -- his fate, and I know you know what I mean." Darkwing gives another nod and pulls away from the Seeker. "Yes, I know. I suppose that is part of why I'm not going to stop you. Just... if you end up having swept off the floor by Dreadwind or pieced back together by the Constructicons; expect me to tell you, I told you so." He says with a slight smirk as he exits the cell. Windshear says, "I will keep that in mind, Dark." he watches Dark exit the cell and looks back at Raid. "It was a challenge by Scrapper -- his comment of someone showing mercy on this bot. He knows what he did cant be undone by anyone other then him. I'm not sure I want to take the bait to be honest."" Darkwing can't help but chuckle. "Seems you've gotten a bit smarter in the past few months. You used to be reckless enough to attempt it." Windshear smirks, "I might have a nigh high pain tolerance but I'm not that stupid.... I've been damaged enough over the past few months that some reserve has finally sunk in shall we say." Darkwing nods "If you say so, Windy." The Powermaster chuckles against as he exits the dungeon. Windshear laughs, "Yes I say so..." Windshear looks back at the Aerialbot, "Only because you are such an opponent in the skies, Air Raid. I tried to honor that -- you earned it as far as I'm concerned. But I am only one small part in this situation and there are things beyond my control. Till we meet again in battle, Autobot..." he turns and heads for the exit himself. What else can he do?